Revolver cocking mechanism actuated by side lever



March 3, 1959 E. I. WESTMOR'ELAND 25875545 I REVOLVER cockms MECHANISM ACTUATED'BY SIDE LEVER Filed Aug. 15. 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

lltlilh dv. PB 0 March 3, 1959 E. 1. WESTMORELAND 2,875,545

REVOLVER COCKING MECHANISM ACTUATED BY SIDE LEVER Filed Aug. 13, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Edward I. Westmor'e/and United States Patent REVOLVE 'COCKING MECHANISM A'CTUATED 'BYSI'DEVLEVER' Edward I. Westmoreland, Plymouth, Mass. Application August 13, 1956, Serial No. 603,562

8 Claims. (11. 42-65) Thisinvention' relates to an improved hand gun of the revolvertype, and has for its primary object the provision of anew and improved hand gun which is cocked by a natural downward thumb motion, which revolving cylinder is a"moti'on which'tends'to rotate the hand upwardly as the thumb is pulled back causing a shift'in grip, andthus also tends to spoil the aim; furthermore-at the end of the thumb cocking motion, the thumb is not in a natural position for shooting, and must be repositioned, and the hand'regripped tothe handle before accurate aim can be taken.

In contrast to the'above, I provide a thumb cocking 2,875,545 Patented Mar. 3, 195 9 Ice Fig. l is a side elevation of the improved pistol according to the invention; Fig. 2 is' a top plan view of: the pistol shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the same pistol;

Fig. 4 is a detail View, partly broken away, showing the relation of the cylinder pawl and cylinder;

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view takenon line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view taken on line 66 of Fig. 1;

Fig; 7. is a detail sectional view showing the rear sight;

Fig. 8 is a front elevation of the barrel, showing the front sight construction; I

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the trigger;

Fig. 10 is a 'plan view of the same trigger;

Figs. 11 and 12 are side and rear elevation views of the hammer," 1

Fig. 13 is an enlarged; detail. view similar to Fig. 4, showing the relation of the cylinder and'c'ylinder pawl prior to full. latching; 7

Figs. 14, 15 and 16 are detail views showing the hammer cocking and latching action in various stages; and

Fig. 17 is a detail view of the cocking link.

Referring to Fig. 1 the gun has a frame and barrel 1. In the usualp'ositi'on on the frame. is. mounted a hammer 2, piy'oted'at 2a ('Fig. 1.1) on a pivot fixed to the frame,

- and provided. with a'cocking'latch or sear 2b. Pivotally mechanism whereby the hammer is moved into the cocked position by a natural downward motion of the thumb, which is the strongest digit, with no shifting of grip, so that at the end of the cocking motion the thumb is in the correct position for aiming and shooting, which can take place immediately thereafter. Moreover, the same continuous thumb ,motion causes rotation of the cylinderto present a loaded chamber to the hammer, so that the trigger finger has nothing to do except exert a slight pressure on the trigger to'release the hammer, which is allthat it should do in an idealv hand gun.

A further object of the invention is to provide a safe hand gun of the above type which cannot be firedorit's hammer released until the cylinderpawl is properly seated and the cylinder chamber accurately aligned with the barrel. -Also the hammer rests normally in a safety position when uncocked.

Still another object is toprovide a hand gun of simple construction, with a minimum number of parts, which dan'be readily disassembled and reassembled without the use of tools, rio threaded parts beingused and a, minimum of tooling being required for manufacturing.

A further object is to provide a hand gun ofgoo balance, with the hand grip set higher in relation. to the barrelqthan is ordinarily feasible to minimize recoil action'and give good balance while firing.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a hand gun with, improved and simplified adjustable front and rear fsights. p p

A further object is'to provide a simple means for facilitating theextraction of shells from the cylinder of arevolver. v

IThe s 'ecific nature or my invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof, will clearly appear from ads'cr p a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

attached to the" hammer at 26 is cocking link 9, to which is rigidly fastened the thumb actu'ated cocking lever 8, so thatlink 9 and lever '8. function as a unitary piece pivotally connected at 9a to har'nnier link 4, which is not. through pivot 6a, but forwardly thereof, and there fore pressure on spring 11, tends to. rotate the entire trigger 6 counter-clockwise; at thesame time the spring when compressed. (which is, its normal assembled con dition) also exerts a force through plunger 12 and/link 13, onhammer link 4, which it tends torotate clockwise about pivot, 4a, into the position, shown in Fig. l, in which pivotpoints 2a, 20 and 9a areinline, thus restraining any further clockwise rotation of hammer link 4. This. is the normal uncocked position of the hammer, in which it. floats slightly away, from a cartridge in the top chamber 'of the'revolver cylinder 16. Trigger 6, in this position, is biased to the left in Fig. 1, but the projecting'edge of trigger latch'6d..abuts the cylindrical faceZd of thehammer searlelement, which blocks further counter-clockwise rotation of the trigger.

Also pivoted to the frame. at l 7a.is.cy linder pawl 17, which is urged in a clockwisedirection (Fig. 1) by pawl spring 192 seated in, a recessin. recoil plate 18. The upper end of pawl 17 hasa hooklatch 17b adapted to. engage a portion ofthe cocking, latch 2b when it is permitted to move counter-clockwise against spring 19, as will be explained below, but in the position shown in Fig. 1 it is out of engagementiwith latch 2b. The lower end of cylinder, pawl,17 isprovided with a bifurcated cylinder engaging pawl 17c as best seen in Fig. 4, for. engagement with the portion of the cylinder formed between the respective fiutings on the outer cylindrical surface. The left-hand. bifurcation 17d is somewhat longer than the corresponding"right-hand bifurcation. Thus, when the cylinder is in the position shown in Fig.

The trigger includes finger sition it with the uppermostchamber in the firing position. The edges 16b of the cylinder 16 may be milled out as shown for accurate mating with the inner edges of the pawl bifurcations, or alternatively, the engaging pawl surfaces may be'sloped outwardly, as desired."

In order to facilitate cartridge removal, the cylinder 16 is chamfered'as shown at 16a, so that the thumb the upper area of the handle; the, thumb is then swept down, rotating lever Sand cocking link 9 as a unit about pivot 9a; in a counter-clockwise direction; this causes pivot point 2c to move to the right in Fig. 1 and causes nail of the user may be inserted'between'the edge of a cartridge and cylinder. If the cartridge is stuck so'that moreforce is required, the cylinderpin 21 may be removed and used forthispurpose.

'The upper side of the barrel portion'of the frame is formed with a groove as shown at 1a,. and at the two ends this groove is undercut as shown at 1b and 10 to provide for insertion of the rear andfront sights re-v spectively. The front'sight comprises-a Belleville spring washer 32 which is slid into the undercut portion of the groove at lc'and is retained by frictional engagement. Washer 32 carries an upstanding post 32a 'eccentrically mounted thereon, which projects intothe groove to form the front sight; since this front sight is held by a friction fit due to thecurved spring action of the Belleville washer,

it will beapparent that post 32a can be frictionally adjusted fromsirle to side in the groove to provide a lateral front sight adjustment. The rear sight 31 comprises a flat spring member 31 which is turned up at right angles at its sighting end, the turned up'portion lying within the groove 1a and beingprovided with a notch 31a to form the rear sight. vAn eccentric pin .33v is provided transversely across groovela at a: point directly under the rearend' of rear sight 31 as shown in Fig. 7, and I a screw-driverslot is provided tame end ,of'pin 33 so that it can be rotated toraise and. lower rear sight 31, which is-biased, downwardly into. the groove 1a. to provide for elevation adjustment. Thus both rear and front adjustable sights are provided by simple friction means made sufficiently stiff and with sufficient frictional engagement in their respective undercut slots 1b and 10 to maintain any setting to which they are positioned.

Cylinder 16 is full fluted all the way from end to end, and is retained in firing position by removable cylinder pin 21 held in place by a spring-pressed detent 22. A cylinder cradle is provided with a bushing 20a for retaining the cylinder and the entire cradle and cylinder can be pivotally rocked into loading position about cradle pin 2012 when cylinder pin 21 is withdrawn to the inner slot 21a. 7

Handle 29 is removably mounted on the grip portion of the frame and is retained by grip clamp lever 25 pivoted at 25a to the frame 1, and urged into locking position by plunger 27 under the action of spring 28. To remove the handle, the grip clamp lever 25 is released by finger pressure against the action of spring 28, and the handle withdrawn, which exposes the various pivot pins so that they canbe pushed out for simple disassembly of the entire mechanism.

Recoil plate 18 is made integral with the frame 1 and is partly cut away at 18a to expose the upper left quadrant of cylinder 16 as seen from the rear in Fig. 3. The purpose of this is to enable the thumb of the user to rotate the cylinder.

The manner of using the above described gun is radically different from the usual. It is assumed that the gun has not been previously fired, and therefore presents an unfired chamber to the hammer, thus rendering the gun safe as ordinarily carried with only five cartridges. (Fig. 14.) After firing the gun being grapsed by the right hand of the user, the thumb is initially placed upon cocking lever 8, which projects out it??? ill? Side of 'the hammer to rotate about, fixed pivot 2a in a clockwise direction, into the position shown in Fig. 15. In

this position the latch 6d of the trigger is now engaged withthe cocking latch 2b due to the forward bias of the trigger caused by spring 11. as previously explained. However, it'will be noted that cylinder pawl 17 is still engaged with the cylinder.16 to prevent rotation thereof. Continued downward motion of the ,thumbpressing upon cocking lever 8 causes further rotation ofthe hammer 2 slightly beyond the cocking position, which causes the front face 2d of the lower hammer portion to engage therear face of projection 17d oncylinder pawl 17 and thus rotates the cylinder pawl ina counterclockwise direction, releasing its lower bifurcated portion 17c from engagement with the cylinder as shown in Fig. 16. At

the same time, the thumb now beginsto rest on cylinder 16, and falls naturally into the exposed fluted portion 16a. of the cylinder, which is in about the ll oclock position with respect to the:user.

is now released from engagement'with the cylinder, further: downward motion of the thumb causes counter.-

clockwise rotation of the-cylinderas seen in Fig. 3. As

soon as this motion commences, the thumb slips off cocking lever 8, which then returns,,under the biasing force of spring 11, to the'cocked position of Fig. 15, in I which it ,isv held by the trigger latch.v However, thev cylinder pawl 17 cannot return to the position shown in Fig. 15,v butcanlonly'return, to the position shown in Fig. 13, becausethe cylinder has been moved surfi- .ciently to prevent, its full return ,untilthe cylinder has been rotated a full. 60, assuming six chambers as shown, and the pawl 'can return tov the position shown in Fig; v4 under theurging of spring 19. Until the pawl is re- "turned to this position, the hammer cannot be fired because the upper hookedv end of thevpawl at 1711 isin the way of cocking latch 2b, thus preventing release of the hammer. When the pawl 17 returns to the position shown in Fig.1, the hammer can be fired by pulling the I trigger, but at this time the fresh chamber is accurately aligned with the barrel, and the gun is ready for use. It will thus be apparent that the above described mechanism provides complete safety of operation, and obviates any possibility of firing the gun until the cartridge is accurately aligned with the barrel. In practice, the above described sequence of operations is accomplished by a single rapid downward sweep of the thumb, at the end of whichthe thumb is in the correct position for immediate firing, the gun is cocked, afresh cartridge is in the. chamber, and only a slight pull on the trigger is required to fire the weapon. Since the thumb is far stronger than any other digit, the entire operation can be accomplished with great speed, and in a natural mo tion which does not tend to pull the hand out of alignment, assuming the gun is already pointed in the correct position. By using the thumb as above described, not-only is the mechanism considerably simplified, but the speed and accuracy of use are both enhanced.

No trigger guard is shown; it is apparent that a conventional; trigger with a trigger guard could be employed. Similarly, the conventional type of safety catch can be added to render the gun safe against accidental pulling of the trigger when carried cocked. Instead of the full fluting for thumb engagement, the cylinder surface could be roughened or knurled, or else a series of small projections could be provided on the cylinder surface to ensure proper thumb engagement.

It will be apparent that the embodiments shown are only exemplary and that various modifications can be made in construction and arrangement within the scope of y c t ign as defined in the appended claims.

As the cylinder pawl.

I claim:

1. A hand gun comprising a barrel, a handgrip, a rotatable cylinder having a number of cartridge chambers therein, a firing hammer, a downwardly movable thumb-actuated lever projecting from the side of said grip near the top thereof, and cocking mechanism actuated by said lever for cocking said hammer by downward thumb motion.

2. A hand gun comprising a barrel, a handgrip, a rotatable cylinder having a number of cartridge chambers therein, a barrel alignment means for holding each chamber respectively in alignment with said barrel during firing, alignment release means for releasing said alignment means to permit rotation of said cylinder, thumb-engaging means on the surface of said cylinder for engagement by the thumb of'the pistol hand to rotate said cylinder, and thumb-engageable actuating means for said alignment release means positioned for thumb operation prior to thumb rotation of said cylinder.

3. A hand gun comprising a barrel, a handgrip, a rotatable cylinder having a number of cartridge chambers therein, a barrel alignment means for holding each chamber respectively in alignment with said barrel during firing, a firing hammer, a downwardly movable thumbactuated lever projecting from the side of said grip near the top thereof and cocking. mechanism actuated by said lever for cocking said hammer by downward thumb motion, and thumb-engaging means on the surface of said cylinder positioned for initial thumb engagement during the last portion of said cocking operation to provide for thumb rotation of said cylinder immediately after cocking of the hammer.

4. The invention according to claim 3, said thumbengageable means comprising fluted grooves at the surface of said cylinder, one corresponding to each chamber of the cylinder.

5. The invention according to claim 3, and thumboperable release means for releasing said alignment means prior to said rotation of the cylinder.

6. A hand gun comprising a barrel portion, a handgrip portion and a rotatable cylinder having a number of cartridge chambers; a main spring, a trigger piece pivotally mounted near the lower end of said handgrip portion and having a finger-piece projecting beneath said cylinder, a hammer-energizing latch and springretaining means for retaining one end of said main spring to bias said trigger piece toward hammer-latching engagement; a hammer pivotally mounted on said grip; a hammer linkage biased by said main spring into uncocked position; a downwardly-movable thumb-actuated lever projecting from the side of the upper part of said handgrip portion for moving said hammer linkage against the bias of said main spring to rotate said hammer on its pivot into cocking position against the bias of said main spring; and a hammer sear portion engageable by said hammer-engaging latch in the cocked position of said hammer.

7. The invention according to claim 6, comprising a normally spring-biased cylinder pawl, a series of arcuately-spaced pawl-engaging stop means on said cylinder, one for each chamber, for positioning each chamber respectively in alignment with said barrel .portion when each said stop means is engaged with said pawl under its normal spring bias, said pawl in such engaged position blocking rotation of said cylinder; a projection on said pawl engageable by a portion of said hammer when the hammer is moved slightly beyond the cocked position thereof to release said pawl from its engaged position; and latch means on said pawl for blocking release of said hammer by the trigger in the released position of the pawl.

8. The invention according to claim 7, and thumbengageable means on said cylinder for rotating said cylinder by thumb motion after said pawl is released.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 855,227 Bull May 28, 1907 1,982,058 King Nov. 27, 1934 2,246,174 Howells June 17, 1941 2,324,674 Buchanan July 20, 1943 

